Carpenter Injured in Fall Accepts 100G Settlement
By Darlene J. Weiner
Staff writer

A former carpenter injured three years ago when he fell from a ladder while working at a Hamilton township construction site accepted a $100,000 settlement offer yesterday as the civil trial entered its second day.
           
Vilmos Giczi, 60, of Maine and formerly of Hopewell Township, filed suit
against developers K. Hovnanian Inc. after he was injured in June 1985 while descending a ladder at the construction site of Society Hill of Hamilton on Whitehorse-Mercerville Road.
           
Also named in litigation was Coffey Bros., the roofing company working at
the site, Giczi’s attorney Brian McVan said.
           
McVan alleged the ladder was not properly secured and “kicked out” as his client was descending it, causing the man to drop 8 to 10 feet and land flat
on his back.
           
Giczi suffered torn cartilage in both shoulders. After physical therapy proved unsuccessful, Giczi underwent surgery to repair the damage, but he was
left with a “limited range of movement in his shoulders,” McVan said.
           
As the trial before Mercer County Superior Court judge Philip S. Carchman entered its second day, Giczi accepted the $100,000 settlement offer. McVan said the parties agreed to settle apparently because “everybody had second thoughts about trying the case before a jury.”
           
Hovnanian attorney Joseph Choquette declined to discuss details of the
case, saying only, “It was a compromise settlement and not an admission
as far as liability.”
           
Coffey Bros. attorney Frank Addis could not be reached for comment.

Worker Wins 100G Suit

TRENTON - A former Hopewell Township resident injured when he fell off
a ladder at the Society Hill condominium development in Hamilton will
receive $100,000 as an out-of-court settlement reached yesterday, according to court records.
           
The settlement between Vilmos Giczi and K. Hovnanian Co. developers and
a roofing subcontractor was reached during the second day of civil trial before Superior Court Judge Philip S. Carchman.
           
Giczi, 60, now a Maine resident tore cartilage in his back when a ladder collapsed beneath him at the Society Hill construction site on June 10, 1985, said his attorney, Brian McVan of Warminster, PA.
           
Giczi claimed the ladder was improperly locked and said that when he began to climb down it collapsed, McVan said.
           
As part of the settlement, neither K. Hovnanian, nor the subcontractor,
Coffey Bros., admitted any negligence, McVan said.
           
Attorneys for K. Hovnanian and Coffey could not be reached for
comment yesterday.